Byju Raveendran on Crisis Management

The lender coalition's challenge to the Aakash security structure and the board's loss of control over the operating company have effectively separated the brand from its underlying assets, a configuration that will shape whatever entity emerges from the restructuring.

Byju Raveendran built the Think and Learn / BYJU'S learning app into India's most valued startup and a global edtech benchmark, a trajectory that reversed sharply from 2022 onward as the firm's aggressive acquisition strategy, accounting practices and customer-retention model came under regulatory and investor scrutiny.

The collapse in valuation — from a peak of $22 billion to a fraction of that within two years — was driven by the disclosure that deferred revenue had been booked aggressively and that the physical tutoring acquisitions (Aakash) sat inside a contested security structure, eroding both investor and lender confidence simultaneously.